UMPI professor to lead Marianas Tour
PRESQUE ISLE — University of Maine at Presque Isle Professor Anderson Giles has announced an opportunity to visit the Northern Mariana Islands and Palau this August as part of a tour that will mark the 65th anniversary of the Atomic Missions to Japan.
Giles will be leading this tour, which will participate in unique commemoration events on Tinian Island associated with the deployment of the atomic strike missions against Nagasaki and Hiroshima and the end of World War II. The tour will also visit numerous historic, cultural and scenic sites on the islands of Guam, Saipan, Rota and Palau, Anguar and Pelelieu.
Giles’ tour will include four days on the island of Tinian, where the largest airfield complex built during World War II still exists. It was from this island that the A-bombs were assembled and that flights took off to initiate what would become the top news story of the 20th century. During this tour, there will be special forums and seminars, commemorative events and opportunities to visit important historic sites on which Giles has done extensive documentary work.
Giles has worked for more than 20 years to preserve the history of the war in the Pacific through film, photographs, paintings and other collections, and has traveled to many islands in the Pacific — including Iwo Jima, Tarawa and Guadalcanal — to document historical sites and interview World War II veterans about their experiences.
His many projects related to WWII in the Pacific have touched the lives of people close to home and around the world. He has completed two feature-length documentary films — his two-hour documentary “Thunder from Tinian” won a Telly Award in 1997 and in 2007 he completed his second documentary, “Echoes from the Apocalypse, Tinian: 60 Years Later.” Giles also has served as a consultant for the audio-visual components of the National Parks Service Museum on WWII on Saipan.
Giles has led numerous tours back to Tinian and other islands involved in the war in the Pacific. He has been leading tours for Valor Tours Ltd. for 10 years.
Call Giles at 768-9488 or 762-1021 for more information. You may also e-mail him at hume.giles@umpi.edu.
Professor Anderson Giles, above far right, stands with a tour group during a trip to the island of Saipan. Giles has led many tours of important World War II sites in the Pacific Islands in the past decade.
During an April 1 ceremony at USMC Quantico, Va., 1st Lieutenant Joseph Patrick Gahagan graduated from The Basic School. Pictured, from left: Hayes Gahagan, Joseph’s father, of Presque Isle; and Joseph Gahagan.
